Dark Angels – Azrael and Company Commander TO DONE!

A final push managed to complete my Dark Vengeance Azrael conversion and my Assault on Black Reach Commander. I used some dregs from a couple of bottles of Army Painter Anti Shine and they came out all glossy so I’d definitely advise always sticking to using a bottle with a decent amount in it.

In all honesty I’m not overly happy with either of these guys, they’re not my best work but I suppose they came out better expected in some places. There are definitely some bits that work but I think the overall effect is a bit confusing.

Sadly it’s not helped by the pictures being overly dark, I should have tweaked these but forgot but as I’m just glad there off my To Do List I really don’t want to invest any more time in them.

Azrael with his Watcher holding the Lion Helm.

I think the Commanders face came out really well but it’s the freehand lettering that spoils it for me a bit

I may also go back in at some point and put so freehand patterns on his cloak or litanies on the back of the banner.

All my HQ choices togetherm makes a cool ‘last stand’.

Took some pictures on my phone too, bit of a difference.

But it does do better macro-shots

And pictures that manage to capture the models as if they were life sized.

And here we go the Big Green Stamp of Approval, been a while since I had one of these and I’ve ticked it off my list too. Additionally I’ve already started compiling my review of the year for August. For those taking part in the hobby season it’s easier to keep track of achievements as you do them than having to write a big old post at the end. So far I’ve got three things completed, which is understandable given I’m working on numerous projects at the moment which means progress is slow but I’m hoping they’ll all mature within a short time of each other. Regardless I know full well I’ve been pretty productive and although I’ve had some tough times so far I’ve overcome a lot too.

 

Dark Angels – 5th Company Ferron Task Force Deployment

I now have 760pts of Dark Angels complete and despite the creative problems from the beginning with Dark Angels green I think I’ve managed to create a cohesive force. There’s all sorts going on colour wise but I think overall they’ve managed to at least be consistently coloured.

I’m still not digging the Librarians and Sergeant’s loin cloth chapter symbol. I may repaint the Sergeant’s loin cloth as a quartered company badge, in the mean time I’ll suck it up.

Thankfully the Tacticals and Devastators match up nicely.

And they even fit in well with Brother Cask.

And the little Watcher too takes a place of honour amongst my ‘green wing’.

Together with the Deathwing they make a compelling force.

A subtle difference in the colours of the bases but I think that’s to do with the later adoption of my Pumpkin highlight which I can easily add just a little to the older bases to make them current. At least the bronze patina and reds, both on the models and base edges tie the remaining colour elements together in this force.

Still not happy with his green loin cloth and lack of markings on the scroll on his chest. I’m thinking of making his heraldry badge pure white [or a ‘field of silver’ as it’s officially known, I think] with some more extra markings on

Just what is that Sergeant pointing at? I never realised until now how daft that pose was.

Decent sized Storm Bolter barrels!

Oh yeah, the new missile launchers have so much character…

Cask needs his name on his shin guard. I have a fine technical pen but when I added Army Painter Anti Shine to seal it it did the opposite and made the archive ink run! I wonder if I should have had a glow effect on Casks vision slit? And you can also see the vagaries of Army painter Anti-shine in that Cask’s base edges are super matt, while some of the other bases are almost satin. I may whip over the edge with another coat of Vallejo Extra Opaque Heavy Red. I’ve said before, it is in no way similar in opacity to the old Mechrite Red but three or four coats and it has a gorgeous richness that Mechrite never had.

 Now I basecoat the edges with Mechrite, for coverage and then add the Heavy Red. My various pots of Mechrite have weird properties too, some are matt as my original pot was, some are glossy. I think this is down to them needing a proper mix which unfortunately given the dwindling supplies makes that harder to achieve, hence why I now Mechrite and then Heavy Red.

So, next up is the Dark Vengeance Tactical Squad, that’s at the green highlights stage. Its laborious but I’ve found my cack-handed attempts at wet blending relatively simple. I can get one or two highlighted a night and then it’s all the fun elements of adding details. I’m not sure why I’ve got these on my To Do list, they’re not even part of my basic Army List. But they look cool and green wing is both interesting and less offensive to me [creatively] than the Ravenwing. 

I’ve also got my Dark Vengeance Deathwing on the go and I’m up to the same point – main armour highlights, only Bonewhite this time, not Caliban Green. Again, not something I can afford in my list but having ten terminators gives me options, I just need to decide who gets the Cyclone Missile Launcher – on e of these guys or one of the less dynamic but more in need of making them look individual Assault on Black Reach termies…?

Then it’s Ravenwing 😦 and also a look at some transports which thankfully are on both my lists, or at least some of them are 😉 I can’t believe I’m actually getting some of these done

Better off Dread – Dark Angel AoBR Dreadnought Update Update Update Update – TO DONE!

After 3 years and 1 months since Brother Cask first graced Confessions of a 40k Addict he is finally complete. Yes indeed, in the months I have set aside for painting Dark Angels I’ve actually painted some Dark Angels!

As you can see I’ve added litany writings and freehand 5th Company markings. I tried to use a circular magnet for the symbol, by painting it black and stamping it on the shoulder to get a perfect circle but that just made a blob. So I had to do it by hand but it came out pretty neat.  

I think even with the litanies and extra detail work he’s quite understated. He’ll be used in some of my early games just because he’s done, I may well have him come in my Drop Pod, should I manage to finish that!

If I was doing another one I’d probably have used those top four panels to make the quartered 5th company symbol but I do like the V to represent the company and to be seen from a Titan.

I say finished, I obviously mean there’s still a little to do, some flock on the base and his name on his shins scroll. I’d painted over it and bought a technical drawing pen that claimed to be water resistant, which in truth it might be able to substantiate but it is NOT resistant to Army Painter Anti-Shine. So the redrawn ‘CASK’ washed away and I’ll consider adding it on top, in which case it’ll be a bit glossy or try and freehand paint it again, yikes.

Here you can see him alongside my Deathwing and Tactical marines, you’ll notice just how matt that Anti Shine came out. It’s a funny paint in that it can be uber matt or even shiny. This time it may be because I might have laid it on thick, it actually took around 18 hours to fully dry.

It’s not a 100% match in greens but hopefully with the rest of the guys it will all fit seamlessly together.

It’s difficult to tell which is the more accurate colours .

More pics of the ‘happy couple’ 😉

This is what happens when you stay out in the Ferron badlands too long the UV radiation and sulphur-rich atmosphere tend to make your vision just that little bit jaundiced.

Interestingly I found this filter on my phone cam that removed the yellow in certain areas, makes Dark Angels quite interesting in blue, don’t you think?

Here’s my big blue tick, for finally getting it done! More importantly it’s something crossed off my To Do List, which actually looks a bit pathetic given only 6 of 20 items have been done. I’m sure come the reckoning day I’ll have made up for it somehow and certainly getting something finally complete that’s been on every list I’ve created thus far is a big deal. I now have 490pts of Dark Angels painted.

Meanwhile I’ve 12 bases to paint, which will make 36 bases I’ve painted since Throne of Skulls. Then I’ll be adding some green to all my Tactical and Devastator squads but the primary concerns will be my Dark Vengeance Librarian, I need a HQ and getting my Lictor and Carnifex ready for Blog Wars 7.

To Done – Dark Angel Tactical Squad

My first post on these was September 11th 2011, but as I don’t recall if I’d already posted about them I may well have been working on them for months prior. Suffice to say after about 2.5 years I’m more than a little relieved to finally painting my first ever Dark Angel Tactical Squad.

I’ve finished them up with freehand Dark Angel symbols, pencilled in first and then painted Vallejo Stonewall Grey followed by some highlights in white.

The green is something I’m happy with, not overly highlighted, still dark in places and still obviously green in places. Thankfully these pics aren’t too saturated but I think they give a decent enough representation of their true colours.

The symbols aren’t spectacular but they’re not bad, certainly they weren’t as difficult as I expected and there isn’t one that looks awful even if there are slight differentiations between the lengths of the wings on the swords. But I like that, it gives them some variety. You can also see some litanies written on to the armour. I’ve some awesome fluff yo go with this and why all their weapons are tarnished. When I get chance I’ll tell you the tale of the ‘Shards of Caliban’.

The Sergeant is perhaps my least favourite model. I wanted him dark skinned and I think it almost works but his eyes are a bit odd.

And the red Dark Angel symbol on his tabbard just sucks, the folds dont help recognising the symbols but I couldn’t think of anything else so it’ll have to do.

To help identify the two combat squads should I split them I put litanies on the left vent on five marines. I’d actually put quite a lot of ‘text’ already on the power armour and feel this may have been a bit too far but I did have fun making some strange ‘illuminated’ characters and typography as if each marine has decorated his armour with an oath or message from one of the many teachings important to the Dark Angels. It ties in that vibe of a knightly order – warrior priests, versed in the art of scripture as well as fighting. 

And Litanies on the right vent of the remaining five. The second from left has his litany in a spiral, to represent the Dark Angel obsession with such a shape. Don’t know how they’ll be perceived should I ever take them to Throne of Skulls. Not sure they’ll stand out quite like my Tyranids do, even if they’ve been slaved over considerably more per model, we’ll just have to see.

And here’s there new home, a handy £2.49 craft box from Home Bargains.

All decked out with laminate floor cushioning foam, stuck in with double sided tape. Unfortunately it only takes 18 models, just short of two tactical squads 😦 Still, better than nothing.

Here’s my big blue tick, for getting it done. Finally some Dark Angels in the bag a momentous occasion!

Dark Angel Tactical Squad update

It’s been another 6 months since my last update but I’ve covered the why’s and wherefors. Unfortunately these pics look worse than the model does in the flesh [or is that Ceramite?]. Usually the oversaturated colours make the models look very bright but in this instance it enhances the subtleties too much. However I’m sure when I do the final pics in daylight they’ll look better.

Freehand DA symbol, it’s but of a ‘kipper’ sword but I’m still quite pleased with my efforts. Penciled in forst then grey with some white highlights.

I really like the Verdigris now, glad I did it. When these are all complete I’ll let you in on some fluff about it too.

Dark Angel Tactical Squad update

Dear Lord, nearly two years since I had something of worth to show on these guys and sadly that’s had an effect on them. Since last time I added the weapons and coated them with Badab Black to try and tone the green down but I just can’t accept that as their ‘finished’ look. In no way does a black washed base coat represent the quality I was hoping for, hence the hiatus. The downside is all the nooks and crannies are now coated with dust but hopefully I can cover that up.

In the mean time the solution to my problems with green was solved with a recent trip to GW where I asked if I could try out their new Dark Angels Green – Caliban Green and a young lad who was gaming offered to lend me his own paint to try out +1 to the community there [although the manager was also keen to offer too]. Anyway, I tried it and was impressed enough to purchase a pot there and then. So far the guys below have just had their helms ‘updated’.

However, these guys are fully Caliban Greened. It actually works like paint should, unlike my Vallejo equivalent. Application of water thins it sufficiently to blend on the model and although I seem to be randomly making up where the highlights would hit I don’t mind so much because this initial finish is something I’m happy with.

You will also note I’ve added some Verdigris to the bronze bits. I know I was really happy with what I’d done previously and it kind of doesn’t make sense – why would the Marines allow their weapons to become weathered and certainly not on the arid landscape of of Ferron Proxima? But the 40k universe is awash with anachronism and ungents used to placate machine spirits. Why wouldn’t these warrior monks also revere the aged patina of their venerable weapons? They’re totally clean on the inside for functionality, just ancient on the outside. At least it’ll tie them in with the Deathwing.

This guy was my initial test model of Caliban Green and has actually had a set of extra highlights added that resulted in my happiness and continued progress with the rest of the squad. I then went back again with Badab Black/Army Painter Hard Tone and washed all the darker areas to bring back the effect I wanted and cover up the dust. There’s definitely a richness now, I hope it comes across as I realised that it takes a while to do but that’s OK. If a model takes three times longer than a Termagant, that makes sense as they’re worth three times more. 

I obviously did all the bases and will probably do all the bases on the Dark Vengeance squad immediately after base coating so everything can be tidy. Additionally there’s the freehand Chapter badge which is something to look forward to [NOT!] and I’ll pick out a number of other details as well as trying to achieve a decent lens effect on the sniper scopes.

Dark Angel progress, honest!

Alongside the Deathwing progress I’ve continued on with my Space Marine Commander. His power sword has been painted in the same way as the Deathwing Captain, beautiful and scruffy! The same can be said for his cloak. There seems to be a lot of my ‘old’ way of painting in this – the scruffy slap-dash way I used to paint my Empire army. It got them done but was considerably removed from my wet-blending techniques I was capable of.

I’ve still to come to terms with the banner. Once again this is something I’ve seen executed with success. My local GW has the same AoBR Commander, painted quickly with what looks like solely Foundation paints but they seem to have picked out a wealth of detail on the banner. I’ve only painted the cloth and it feels like it’s far from satisfactory but I must remember The Most Important Rule of Painting – it’s not finished and to reserve judgement until it is.

In some respects the different kind of painting on the cloak works purely because it’s material, it has a totally different physical quality and texture than any of the other bits on the model. Perhaps the shadows and highlights are actually too harsh for fabric but in the 41st Millenium who knows?

Still some little bits to do, hair, gun, banner and base at least.

Here’s a bonus tidbit. I wanted to see if I could freehand the Dark Angel chapter badge on a standard Marine shoulder pad – they’re a little smaller than a Terminator shoulder, not least because of the rim surrounding the pad. As this is one of the old plastic marines his shoulder pad is smaller still than the AoBR miniatures. I managed it and it’s passable. I’m not sure I want to do them all this way, although how many Marines would I actually be doing? 15, 20? Surely that’s in the realms of possibility? Or, should I just opt for decals of this? Ron’s just done a few posts on decals on From the Warp so if I can find a way to put them on without it screaming “HE USED DECALS” it might be worth trying. I’ll be doing some decals on my son’s Eldar no doubt so perhaps that will be my opportunity to reacquaint myself with the procedure and results and what results I can achieve following some of Ron’s tips.

To done! – Deathwing

When I first started painting Citadel Miniatures I got a bundle of Dwarves on slotta bases and with shields that you could position onto a lump on their forearm thus making a shield boss. At the time I painted the shields all the same, a ‘silver’ [white is called silver in heraldic terms, or so a White Dwarf article once told me] field, quartered with scarlet. Essentially it’s your captains heraldry below, or the far right Terminator.

Originally I’d left these at the Mechrite Red stage. I wasn’t convinced so added a little bit of highlighting. I’m still not 100% convinced but with pretty much all of my Dark Angels I think I’m thinking too much which is essentially getting in the way of doing, but you all gathered that already.

The captain is done, I’ve never been great with eyes but he’ll do. I marvel sometimes at how much detail some folk get out of this model I feel mins is a little bit hamfisted. The Agmetic Eye for instance is such a big ‘blob’ compared to some of the super detailed lenses I’ve seen elsewhere. I’m not 100% convinced about his leather kilt thing. The green isn’t too great but anymore highlighting would have looked odd I think.

I like the sword, the colours tie in with the base and the rest of the miniature. I do however thinkit’s one of those things you do that straddles coolness and sloppy painting at the same time. I can clearly see where brush stokes are ‘accidental’ in their effect but I flip between admiring and despairing of it so best not to continue dwelling on it. One issue does still stand, the solitary gem in the Captains Crux Terminatus… do I leave it as or add a little brass mount and a coloured stone?

 

I like the heraldry, I love the reconnection with my past, I’m not 100% happy with execution but happy enough. There’s plenty of elements I’m ecstatic about but as a whole I’m not entirely sure they’re as cohesive as they could have been. Once again it makes me think that perhaps I would have been better off doing a compeletly new chapter instead od pursuing one I had so much ‘history’ with. Black Templars perhaps or even Blood Angels…

But I am happy with the Ferron Crux Terminatus. It was definitely the right choice and at least from this angle they look like a solid cohesive unit.

And lets not forget the freehand Deathwing badges. Nor the first attempt at OSL lenses, which wasn’t too shabby if perhaps scientifically backwards. The battle damage, which I applied in just a few places, which is OK and where it’s not I just toned it down. The verdigris and bronze effects – lots of little lessons, which is perhaps why I do get that disharmonious feel to it.

So overall I think this is done. The mechrite red has gone on the base and I’m awaiting an order of Purity Seal to varnish them…

Gaming night 2nite

I’m only here because I’m smiling with having done some painting.

 Given it’s my youngest’s birthday next Tuesday and he’s been harping on about it since the day after his last one I kind of have to go tonight or it’ll be April before my next session. Thanks to the bumper crop of attendees last week the club is upgrading to a bigger room so again it’s best I go to show support.

Although I don’t fully equate my membership of the Lost Boys Gaming Club to being a member of my kendo club I think ‘giri’ still applies, in some small way. Giri 義理 is a Japanese value roughly corresponding to “duty“, “obligation“, or even “burden of obligation” in English.

Unlike kendo where my very attendance was sufficient to help others and support the club if I don’t attend Lost Boys no one will suffer because of my absence. However, the club needs to pay for the facilities so that is important to have sufficient numbers to break even. Of course in this day and age we all have to economise so my two visits a month goal is, I think, a decent commitment to the club. Anyway, with more room I think I’m more likely to get a match tonight than last week so I’m looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, last night I got in some painting while watching some episodes of Modern Family on the Sky Go. I finished the first set of highlights on my elf Blood Bowl team [except for the Blitzers] and I haven’t even introduced them to you yet! I also did a load of Tin Bitz on my AoBR Tac Squad weapons. Not a huge amount of progress but it’s one more hurdle overcome, onto the next one and only time will tell if it’s easier or not.

Deathwing Progress 4 – Power Weapons and Belial

Back in April I shared my idea for Belial and as the first Deathwing squad is approaching something close to completion I though I would turn my attentions to him in an attmpt to finish them simultaneously. First thing first was the height difference from this ancient miniature. As he is shorter than the Assault on Black Reach terminators I decided he needed a bit more base! I got to use my Dremmel and rout a slot into a piece of slate from the garden, this has then been Vermillioned!

I’m going to redo the lightening claws to fit the same style as the current force weapons I’m doing, both on the Terminator Sergeant and the AoBR Captain [see the end of this post for where that’s at]. Some Badab Black wash still to be applied.

Next up was the hard part, painting over the green reinforcements. I thought they were cartoony but they did look well executed if a bit glossy and OTT. Everything that was ‘green enamelled’ will now be weathered bronze like the current Deathwing. Not sure if I should change his eye lenses to green though…?

Last up his Crux has been covered in Mechrite Red and then overbrushed in Vermillion as standard. Not entirely sure how to treat the vents on the top of the armour and I need to decide if I’ll drill into the middle jewel on top and pin one of the Ravenwing upgrade sprue items. It should make him look even more impressive. He’s currently taller than the other marines but only just taller than the sergeant with his Iron Halo. Of course I’m loate to do anything that’ll easily snap off, especially as this is such a ‘compact’ model, even if it does weigh a tonne!

Referring back to what I said above, here’s my first stab at power weapons [pun intended]. Just playing around with the Vermillion Art acrylic. Will add some more washes and highlights. It’s not awesome but I’m confident it’ll be sufficient in the end.